Syria’s first UN-led peace talks in almost a year ended over the weekend, without any breakthrough, but the United Nations special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said the warring parties now had a clear agenda to pursue a political solution to the country’s conflict, which entered its sixth-year. Both Syria’s government and the opposition could point to small victories. The opposition said that the question of political transition was seriously addressed for the first time, while UN envoy Staffan de Mistura said that combating terrorism – an issue pushed by President Bashar Assad’s delegation – had been added to the agenda.
“I think, I feel quite comfortable that the so-called three original points of the agenda, 2254 and the fourth additional point which is about terrorism and framed in the way I said, the big difference between what we do in Astana and here can be something that everyone can live with.” / “I had a feeling that the sides want to find a dialogue. That’s what matters. So, as I told you at the beginning, don’t be surprised, don’t over-estimate, don’t over-react if there are statements which will say ‘never’, this is part of the rhetoric, it’s part of posturing, it’s part of politics. I know what I heard and what I saw and that gives me some feeling that we are moving in the right direction,” said de Mistura.
The scope of the negotiation is much narrower than a year ago, when de Mistura also had to hear demands for a ceasefire and release of prisoners. A shaky ceasefire has been in place since December 2016 and separate talks in the Kazakh capital of Astana, sponsored by Russia, Turkey and Iran, are dealing with military matters. Even though both summits are sponsored by separate parties and have clearly different aims, de Mistura reiterated comments by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who declared the talks in Astana to complement the talks in Geneva.
“Astana is hostage of Geneva if you want and we are not hostage of Astana, but we are very much complementary, if, and I will almost finish, if Astana succeeds and we want them to succeed, it means ceasefire. If ceasefire takes place, we can have productive talks like we had. If we don’t have productive talks, ceasefire will not last. You see how interconnected, so no-one is really at hand of anyone. We are really working hand in hand but there are two hands,” added de Mistura.
A new round of talks in the Kazakh capital of Astana is scheduled to take place on the 14th of March, and Russian officials have said the UN-led talks in Geneva could resume on the 20th March.